THEATER REVIEW: Magic is in Millie's music

Wednesday

Jun 19, 2013 at 3:50 PM

"Thoroughly Modern Millie" has all of the makings of a classic big Broadway musical: flashy song and dance numbers, a humorous villain the audience loves to hate (played by Ogunquit's favorite leading lady Sally Struthers) and an idealistic young woman trying to make sense of her life and find her own version of love.

Samantha Stephens

"Thoroughly Modern Millie" has all of the makings of a classic big Broadway musical: flashy song and dance numbers, a humorous villain the audience loves to hate (played by Ogunquit's favorite leading lady Sally Struthers) and an idealistic young woman trying to make sense of her life and find her own version of love.

Fresh off the bus from Kansas, Millie Dillmount (played by Becky Gulsvig) arrives in Manhattan to start a new life for herself. After ripping up her ticket home and having her purse, hat and shoe stolen, Millie trades in her long hair and dress for an above-the-knee flapper chic look and sets off to be a modern woman.

Millie's plan is to marry a wealthy employer and to live happily for the rest of her life — even if she doesn't fall in love (she rationalizes that love will hopefully come later and finding a wealthy husband is the first step to being a modern woman in 1922). But despite openly wanting to pursue a life of gold-digging, there's something loveable about Millie.

She has a goal, and the audience watches her fast transition from a small-town girl into what she views as an independent city woman.

In the second scene, Millie meets her match with Miss Dorothy Brown (played by Julie Kavanagh), a wealthy girl desiring a life of frugality. Together they seek out a plan to live "how the other half lives," which includes Millie teaching Dorothy how to live on a dollar and Dorothy teaching Millie how to invest.

While Millie pursues her employer, Mr. Trevor Graydon (Burke Moses), the head of Sincere Trust Insurance, Jimmy Smith (Matt Lutz), a rough-and-tumble "hangs out with the wrong crowd" kind of guy, pursues Millie when stumbling across her path moments after her arrival in Manhattan.

Struthers plays the role of the evil Mrs. Meers, who preys on young orphans who are "all alone in the world" and sells them into white slavery. The role is a far cry from what most have seen Struthers in, but she brings humor into her sinister role and makes it extremely easy to love to hate the character.

From start to finish, "Thoroughly Modern Millie" is a delightful story filled with humor and a very strong ensemble cast. While Gulsvig and Lutz are easily the two scene-stealers, and the audience quickly grows to love the always-bickering pair and cheer them on as they fall in love, the entire cast contributes to this knock-out production.

Moses is delightfully funny as Graydon, a stiff businessman who turns to Jell-o after meeting Dorothy; Terry Burrell adds sass to the production with her portrayal of Mussy Van Hossmere, a famous singer and wealthy widow; and Meers's hunchmen, played by Christopher Shin and Carl Hsu, manage to barely speak English but still provide laughs with the use of a screen that translates their lines.

The joy in "Thoroughly Modern Millie" is the dancing and music, from the opening number to the toe-tapping rhythmic typing at Sincere Trust Insurance to the delightful love song "Long as I'm Here with You." The music allows the audience to feel a part of Millie's journey from a small town into the big city and creates a refreshingly upbeat world where even the worst situations have a happy ending.

GO&DO

"Thoroughly Modern Millie" runs through July 6 at the Ogunquit Playhouse. Ticket range in price from $39 to $78 per show. For information, visit www.ogunquitplayhouse.com or call the box office at 646-5511.

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